bigfriendlyvegan.com

U7 Ermington White 1 Vs U7 Ermington Black 0

We deserved far more than we got on Saturday. We did nothing wrong, played a good, clean match, and yet we couldn’t get the ball through the posts. Time and time again we attacked the goals but the ball simply wouldn’t find the net. I don’t know what the collective noun for a group of Sisyphus’ is, but whatever it is, that’s what we were like. Take the ball to the goal, have it knocked back, run back and get it again, take it back up to the goal. It was the essence of frustration.

That being said, the team played very, very well. They improve every week. All of the work they have been doing in training was being displayed on the field. The guys are starting to learn their strengths and are playing to them. Johnno personally led the troops against the beachhead, repeatedly smashing through the enemy lines. He ran the field until he was exhausted and was never happy without the ball between his feet. Fortunately he had some brilliant forward support by new recruit Isaac. Having only trained with us this week, we didn’t know how he would play - it looks like we have a natural attacker in our side. Isaac shadowed Johnno and made some gorgeous runs himself. These guys were even crossing the ball to each other and creating overlaps - very advanced skills and some great tactical thinking. Geordie, our usual sideways assassin, added a new weapon to his arsenal. The extra weet-bix this week gave him awesome kicking power and he was delivering the type of canon balls that Jack and Lexie usually deliver. Joel spent the first half in goal and the second half running the wing and getting into the action. He combined with Seb to move the ball around the field and give us the advantage from the crush. Seb proved valuable in the field with his superior play reading. He made sure he was exactly where he needed to be, especially in defence in the second half when Jack was in the goal. Lexie and Jack provided the core defence for the game. Jack’s power kicks turned the play around every time while Lexie could barely restrain herself on the field, she really wanted to get a good run at the goal. She had to settle for delivering her long range kicks which are getting more accurate with every match.

Player of the match was Macca who was somehow everywhere on the field at the same time. I am sure there is some sort of weird time altering quantum effect happening at this Rooball field. As a scientist I can tell you that Macca’s field movements were completely impossible - but they were very welcome. It was truly an all-round effort deserving of the award this week. Thank you, Macca.

All of the elements of the game are coming together. The guys are hungry. When the whistle blew on Saturday, more than one of them looked at me and asked “Is that it?”. They wanted to keep playing. “What about the make-up match tomorrow?”, I was asked. “Sorry, that got cancelled. You’ll have to wait until next week”. These guys just want to get out on the field and play. The Germans have a word for it (but then, the Germans have a word for everything): funktionslust. It refers to the pleasure you receive from doing what you do best. Gutes spiel.

Cancelled due to rain. The animals in the ark are getting festive. I knew I should have specified that the pairs should be mixed.

Originally cancelled due to rain (the bloody dove that got sent out still hasn’t come back), but rescheduled for the Sunday after our round 5 game. Unfortunately, that game got cancelled due to lack of players on the other team. We were disappointed, but I can understand, having faced the same problem myself.

If the bible is to be believed (and it’s not) then I am middle aged today. While I don’t feel like I’m having a mid-life crisis, I could be. To summarise my life, so far: I have a wife and three kids; I don’t owe anyone any money; and today, I think for the first time ever, I bought a pair of trousers that were smaller than the ones I was wearing at the time. So far, so good.

I got a call today from Nat of NowFM (98.3) fame. I have never listened to NowFM. In fact, I didn’t even know the station existed. He sounded like a radio person, however, so I didn’t swear at him and hang up (which is what I usually do to cold callers).

Apparently we have a mutual friend, Tim the Hippy, who mentioned to him that I would be perfect for one of the station’s Great Debates. Basically, they propose a topic and the radio personality takes one side and makes a 30 second case. The guest then has 30 seconds to make their case. The radio personality refutes the case and claims victory. It’s all in good fun.

Anyway, the topic was: That it is unethical for a vegetarian/vegan to raise their kids as vegetarians/vegans. You can see that this topic is perfect for me, being big, friendly and vegan and having three glorious little vegetarian kids. The audio of the segment is here.

I think I came off well and made my point succinctly. Apparently I get a prize pack of some sort, which is always a good thing. You can never have too many free hats, t-shirts, stickers or whatever.

Forfeited due to lack of players. They really shouldn’t schedule matches in the school holidays.

U7 Lidcombe Waratahs 7 Vs U7 Ermington Black 1

In addition to having fun (the most important goal of all), each week our training sessions try to focus on developing the numerous skills required for this game. This is a hard thing to achieve in an organic way. It is quite easy to drill skills into players with such impressionable minds, but I feel it is more important to let the kids work out their own strategies as much as possible. That way they learn the principles of good game play rather than set pieces and as such can adapt to different situations more readily. Training games with your friends can only go so far in achieving this aim. You really need some good competitive games against unpredictable elements to challenge you and develop your skills. Saturday’s game was just that for us.

Lidcombe Waratahs had an excellent on field attack and forced us into a defensive posture for most of the game. Our biggest problem was getting in each others way. We simply couldn’t get the ball out of our goal area and all the opposition needed to do was wait for a good shot (and they were very good at shooting). It didn’t help that everyone on the field was wearing red; our well controlled passes kept going to the wrong feet. On the occasions that we did get the ball clear (usually due to a Jack or Lexie cannonball) our attack screamed down the field and got their shots off. Johnno was the only one who managed to convert a shot; if we had more opportunities, our score would have been different.

The school holidays meant that our mid-field and wing would be almost non-existent for this match. Fortunately our old friend Fraser, who played with us last year, stepped up from the U6 team to provide essential central support. Our defense was bolstered by Bridie, also up from the u6s, in her very first Rooball game (and her second competitive game ever).  Thank you guys, you are always welcome on our team.

Johnno and Macca found their attacking roles frustrated by the Waratahs. You could see that they were hungry all match for a good break, but they just didn’t come that often. Lachlan found himself constantly in the middle of the action and managed to get his legs in the way of the opposition’s runs on many useful occasions. Jack was kept busy in his favourite role of defender, but had one of the most brilliant runs at the opposition goal, running the length of the field only to be denied by the Waratah’s keeper. Lexie kept the pressure on Lidcombe with some wonderfully aggressive defense. The busiest player on the field, and our player of the match, was Seb in the goals. The score would have been dozens to one if not for Seb’s brilliant saves. He took them on the ground, in the air and from the feet of the opposition. The ones that went through were either screamers or benders, but Seb tried to get all of them. I think that we have uncovered a true keeping talent here - well done Seb.

By the end of the match we had learned how to force the opposition into a hurried (and hopefully wild) shot and we started to impose ourselves between the ball and the goal. We had stopped tripping each other up and getting in each others way and were starting to clear the ball away from the goal. Given another half I am sure we could have gotten some sweet net justice. I am please to report that even though the team was tired, they were still in there working it out and trying the options. This team simply doesn’t give up. In the same way that beer kills the weak brain cells leaving only the strong ones, our team had their defensive skills honed in a way that simply can’t be replicated in training. We will be much sharper for next week’s game.

U6 Granville Kewpies Vs U6 Ermington  B

It is a hard life being a little kid. You have just gotten used to kindergarten or preschool and now your parents expect you to get up early on a Saturday morning and kick a ball around. At least you get to wear a nice red uniform while you do it. And there are treats at half time. And the little goals are really cute and not too far away. Maybe it’s not so bad after all.

Our first small sided game proved to be quite interesting. Bridie, Kelsey, Rebecca (borrowed from the C team), Julie and Will took to the field in good spirits. All of the players, dashing in their uniforms, shook hands (”Why do we have to shake their hands?”) and the game was on.

It was our very first real game and it was a hard one. Playing soccer, with all of it’s rules, can be very confusing. Run here, run there, stand back a little bit, your going the wrong way, the whistle has blown and that means stop. You get the ball and start running with it only to have it taken off of you, then you have to run the other way and get it again. But that doesn’t really matter because the coach for the Kewpies has a magic spray bottle and he’ll spray water on your face (I really need to get me one of them).

Kelsey played an very vigilant game keeping the center of the field well guarded and the ball under close scrutiny. Bridie got into some action early on in the game and finished with a smile on her face. Will played the entire game without a break, making some dazzling runs and generally getting into every play. Julie showed a dangerous level of enthusiasm for the ball and made several shots at goal only to narrowly miss each time. Rebecca bought her natural grace onto the field, ran hard and really moved the ball around.

In the final minute of the match we scored two goals. Little Will made a beautiful run up the field and was rewarded this time with some net. His beaming smile said that it was all worthwhile and he deserved his player of the match award. Rebecca got a thank you present for playing for us by getting a goal as well. Yes, Granville did get some goals against us. I actually don’t know how many. I don’t care. It was all about that last minute. That little glimpse of something great; the chance of a possibility. I think it will be a long road, but it is all about the journey.

U7 Wentworthville Warratahs 1 Vs U7 Ermington Black 1

A draw for the first round of the season was almost the perfect opener and our team definitely deserved more for their efforts. Full marks must go to the Warratahs; our attack was relentless and two Warratahs had to be taken off the field after hard (but legal) clashes with the reds. I remarked to the team during half time that I thought that aliens must have kidnapped seven little kids and replaced them with seven pro-players! They really did play that well.

Most of the match was spent in Wentworthville’s half. Seb, Johnno, Macca and Lexie rarely crossed back into our half (which was what lead to the Warratah’s first half goal). They kept the attack right up with all of them having a shot, or two, or three at the posts. Geordie worked at perfecting the side steal (with smile) and was able to read the play and be exactly where he needed to be. This was true of all the team; they were all watching the play and flowed supernaturally around the ground. Jack made some wonderful runs, but his real love is in defence. He likes nothing better than running onto a hard struck ball and sending it back over the heads of the chasing opposition.

The Warratahs drew first blood in the first half in one of their rare forays onto our turf. In the second half they managed only one good shot at goal. Lexie’s long straight goal kick from this attempt sent Johnno and Macca hard up the field. The Warratah’s defence knocked it away only to have the ball swept up by Seb and Joel. Their crisscrossing, tackling and passing fed the ball back to Johnno and Mac in the center who ran it up. Johnno pushed, pushed, pushed and sent it past the goalie for the equaliser.

The player of the match went to Johnno for his very focussed and attacking play, with special mention to Macca, without whom the attacks would simply not have worked. The whole team is playing as a single dazzling unit. The past year has made such a big difference. If this is what they are playing like in Round 1, I can only imagine what they will do for the rest of the season. It is going to get very good.

U7 Parramatta City 2 Vs U7 Ermington Black 0
U7 Ermington White 1 Vs U7 Ermington Black 0

The pre-season friendly allowed the team to shake off the cobwebs and re-familiarise themselves with the pitch. The three teams each played a half against the other two resulting in a full game for all. The main aim of the day was to get ready for next week’s season opener.

The summer break had not dulled the skills of our brave young warriors. They were fired up and ready to go with two new palyers this year, Johnno and Macca. The first half went well with a good mix of attack and defence from both sides. The Parramatta city team was drilled and skilled to the max, but our more organic approach was up to the challenge. Our practice sessions have revolved around teamwork and this was very evident during the match. Wherever there was one red player, there were two right behind waiting to pick up the stray ball from a challenge or to take on an opponent. Whenever someone surged up the field, there was another red player stepping on their shadow. We passed, we backed up, we played as a team.

Parra City scored a very good goal off of a great save from Lexie in goal. She deflected the ball from a hard Parra City shot but another Parra City player was in the right place at the right time and knocked it back in. Macca and Johnno worked hard in attack to get one back for the reds. Both of these guys are natural forwards and natural competitors. They really want the ball and their focus is scary. Half time blew before we could revenge ourselves on Parra City, and due to the three team arrangement we were denied satisfaction.

Ermington White played strongly against our guys and the action went back and forth so often you would think you were at a tennis match. With so much focus on the goal posts the Whites failed to see the smiling assassin Geordie. I don’t know who taught him to run across the field, but every opposition player who bought the ball past the half way line felt a gust of wind, saw a flash of red and was left with the vision of Geordie’s Cheshire cat grin as the ball was taken from in front of them. Lachlan played a devil of a game, his best so far. When last year he was content to play back, this time around he refused to leave the action. He was constantly changing the direction of play and feeding Johnno and Macca the ball. Seb and Joel were able to stretch their legs up and down the field, moving to play attacking and defending roles. They cleaned up the stray balls and pushed back towards the center. Jack and Lexie took turns at keeper and back, their big kicks neutralising the oppositions attacks.

It is great to see the familiar faces back again, as well as a couple of new ones. These guys have come together as a very cohesive unit and it is amazing to see their natural games emerge. In contrast to last year, these guys are now playing soccer - real soccer. It will only get better.